How the Greenlash is sinking sustainability

Anything green is apparently now "a costly elitist plot against working people."

Unilever growing sustainable tea in Kenya/ Kelly Rossiter. They have since sold the Lipton tea company to a hedge fund.

Five years ago, I raved about Unilever’s ambitious plans for carbon labelling, quoting the CEO, “We believe that transparency about carbon footprint will be an accelerator in the global race to zero emissions, and it is our ambition to communicate the carbon footprint of every product we sell.” CEO Alan Jope was quoted in a press release:

“We can’t let ourselves forget that the climate crisis is still a threat to all of us. Climate change, nature degradation, biodiversity decline, water scarcity – all these issues are interconnected, and we must address them all simultaneously. In doing so, we must also recognise that the climate crisis is not only an environmental emergency; it also has a terrible impact on lives and livelihoods.”

Alan Jope is no longer CEO; it is now Hein Schumacher, who is not only rolling back all the sustainability initiatives but, in what is the biggest kicker, is eliminating the role of the Chief Sustainability Officer and merging it with- public relations. Schumacher is quoted in the FT:

“Given the increasing extent to which the external policy environment impacts our commercial and sustainability ambitions, I have decided to bring corporate affairs, external communications and sustainability together under one leadership role.”

So sustainability is now just a PR exercise. Unilever is also rolling back its commitments on packaging; my then colleague Katherine Johnson Martinko wrote about how Unilever Promises to Cut Plastic Use in Half by 2025, writing, “The huge corporation, which owns more than 400 food, personal care, and cleaning brands, has pledged to reduce the amount of plastic packaging it uses by half, in an effort to "remain relevant" to younger consumers who care deeply about this issue.”

It’s all part of what what FT columnist Pilita Clark calls “greenlash.” In Europe,
”as climate promises were becoming a reality, inflation was spurring cost of living anxieties. Net zero-sceptic populist parties seized on these to denounce green policies as a costly elitist plot against working people.”

In the United States, Trump got elected, and companies are running from climate change. Banks are currently quitting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, set up a few years ago to fund the shift to a low carbon economy; according to the Globe and Mail, it is because “opposition to environmental, social and governance measures is expected to grow with Donald Trump’s return to the White House.”

“In Washington, the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, said last June it had evidence of “a ‘climate cartel’ consisting of left-wing activists and major financial institutions that collude to impose radical environmental, social, and governance goals on American companies.” It said it would investigate if current antitrust penalties were enough of a deterrent to such “collusion.”

According to the Harvard Business Review, “In the past 18 months, many companies have initiated a sobering retreat from their prior commitments to sustainability, related to both the environment and people… Canada’s six largest oilsands companies wiped their websites clean of their decarbonization goals. The month before, as part of a company-wide expense reduction, Nike laid off dozens of sustainability managers.”

Even companies that still have commitments are not talking about them. A member of Unilever’s now disbanded Sustainability Council noted that the company had very nearly reached its 2023 target of sourcing 100 percent deforestation-free palm oil, paper, tea, soy and cocoa, achieving 97.5 percent.

“They put a shed load of money into it. It’s impressive, and none of their competitors have been able to provide that,” one of the sustainability council members said. “But will they talk about it? No, because someone will say: what did that cost you?”

So even if you are a company doing the right thing, you have to shut up about it, or they will come after you for being in the climate cartel.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Justin Trudeau has resigned, and we await the election of Pierre Pierre Poilievre, who has convinced the country (including the leader of the New Democratic Party) that we have a “carbon tax” which he is going to axe. Except that 90% of the “national price on carbon” collected is rebated to every Canadian, so if I ride my bike or get a heat pump, I put money in my pocket. Axing the tax gives money back to the drivers of pickup trucks and owners of monster houses.

But the system works; the Canadian Climate Institute notes that “carbon pricing — both the consumer and industrial versions — is projected to reduce emissions by as much as 50 per cent by 2030.” Except it will be gone by 2025. No more Canada Carbon Rebates for me.

Greenlash is happening all over the world. Everything we have fought for and promoted for years, from heat pumps to bike lanes, is now “a costly elitist plot against working people.” And I have to walk into class next week with a positive attitude and say to my students, “here’s what we have to do to roll back climate change and live sustainable lives.” I don’t know if I can pull it off.

I was going to fall back on my call for individual actions, but I remembered what Bill McKibben said: “The most important thing an individual can do is be a little less than an individual. Join together with others in movements large enough to make change.”

He was talking politics, and that’s important for me with Poilievre on the horizon and Doug Ford in my face. But we can do this with corporations, too.

Fuck Unilever, I won’t buy their products anymore. And Nike, there are better shoes. Find a credit union instead of a bank. Ride a bike instead of filling a car with gas. We should all stop buying what these companies are selling until they realize that they have made a mistake. This is the kind of activism that starts on university campuses, and I will start there next Wednesday.

UPDATE:

I just read P.J. Melton’s new Substack, The biggest little things. P.J. was a key mover in the green building movement, writing at BuildingGreen for years, and must be feeling what I am feeling. She writes: “it’s counterproductive to react to this crap. you know what happens when the opposition (that’s us!) is perpetually upset, off balance, and fighting each other instead of them? they get their wish.” Good, inspiring stuff that I need right now. I am also going to follow one bit of advice very soon: (I wish it weren’t -13°C or 8.6°F)

you know what really motivates people to revere our planet’s miraculousness? you know what truly helps us regenerate our connections with with one another and with earth’s systems?

leaving the house.